Fire in the Wind –
by jawberry
Summary: Installment 1 and 2  Giles and the Scoobies find out just what nightmares lurk in the heat of battle...


Fire in the Wind – Rated M

** 12:25AM Local Time – East Asia Continent

Rupert Giles controlled his temper. At least he thought he was controlling his temper. The veins in his arms and his perfectly hunched posture betrayed him more than his words. A whisper. "Just Go... I am the one to finish this. It was always me." No one moved. No one breathed. The air was stagnant with blood and burnt clothing. All around them a dark cloud of war and pestilence making their eyes sting... all except Rupert felt the cold.

Willow knew it was time to leave. She packed the last of her weapons and dragged Xander away. Xander was nursing his torn collarbone, weeping, the twinkling tears dragging ash and soot with them. "Giles, you don't have to do this alone..." this from Dawn.

"Oh but I do, little bird." He took his gaze from the decrepit sight to rest on the hardened, yet youthful image of Dawn, standing tall, a gash in her knee, her hair in a thick braid like her sister used to wear. "We agreed. She and I have an understanding and I need to fullfill my part of the bargain."

Slowly, one by one, the others turned and left. Never to look on him again. He was dead to them because ... wouldn't what comes next have to kill him? Wouldn't it have killed any of them?

The vampire lay broken, gurgling blood from its mouth, its eyes glazed, the raised forehead with its blackened ridges close to crumbling in on itself. This thing had killed Buffy. This thing was a monster – true demon and a thorough killer, its blonde hair dirty and splayed around its face.

Giles knelt slowly. "Buffy..." he whispered again, a call to the woman inside the monster. He hadn't planned to torture his once charge. None of this was planned. "I am so sorry..."

From the fallen figure on the ground he heard a rasping sound. At first he thought the thing was trying to breath, but then he heard the cackle, the aggravation is what he guessed was left of its voicebox... "I can heal this old man. You don't have what it takes to kill me."

"Maybe I don't," he said, low in his voice. "But maybe I think you deserve to suffer more for the life you stole. For Buffy's sake." He wiped his brow and could smell his own blood on his hands. "I know you remember the promise we made to each other... wasn't that long ago. It was raining. We were in Indonesia. You asked me to make the thing pay..." He choked and spat, teeth gritted. "On your deathbed, you wanted to go out fighting." He stiffened and found the wheelbarrow. "I think you've still got some fight left in you, what do you say we start your training tomorrow?"

** 12:00AM Local Time – East Asia Continent

Rupert Giles was walking very slowly up the hill. The wheelbarrow in his limp wrist, aching with the weight of the weapons as it creaked over the rocks and stone pathways. He measured his breathing, calm and serene, deep breaths, attempting to prepare himself for the terror beyond. _Every battlefield is awful_, he thought. _I've been to war so many times that even the acrid stench of the dying doesn't seem to bother me anymore_. A grin playing on his lips, he heaved himself up the last rock.

They were still hours away from dawn. The sky above them pitch black, just the barest hint of blue left. The soldiers from the neighboring capitals in China were deep in battle. They had gotten there as soon as they could but would it help any?

Willow wrapped her scarf closer to her neck though there was no wind and the staff she carried glowed a subtle purple color. Xander said nothing, just looked at the black smoke bellow through his good eye. Andrew was there too but trying not to be seen again. His face was contorted into a mix of nausea and excitement. He never really would get used to the smell of burning flesh. "I can't help but think that you guys haul me out here in attempts to kill me vicariously and I'm here to tell you it won't work."

Giles flinched. He knew what had done this. "Andrew, stop being such a child." he sighed, putting down the handle of the wheelbarrow, it made a small thump next to his worn feet. "Choose your weapons."

The screams where palpable, as if they had a mind, they had a decisive influence on the rest of the battling crowd. You couldn't tell which side was winning but you could see the blood spray from the worst of it. "These aren't vampires." Andrew gasped. "Those are the biggest demons I've ever seen."

He wasn't wrong. Strong, like something out of Tolkien, big mythical beasts, black and dark green with mouths hanging open waiting for the rage and spray to get into their lungs. A scream bleated from a nearby skirmish and there was a pale rider atop a horse. The poor animal was dragging its hind leg as the rider attempted to get the demons to stop munching on his steed.

"That's our first charge. Move out." Willow leaned on her staff and spread her hands wide. Her staff swung around her head and landed with a swift crack against the back of the monster. He fell down stunned but soon pursued the witch into a nearby clearing. There were leaves and a root system that Willow brought up behind her, making a makeshift cage for the beast. "One down!"

Xander dropped to his knees under the blow from a nearby demon. "You won't knock my block off, Mister." He jumped as the second arm came looking for his legs. "How's that for lack of depth perception!" The demon, frustrated, began to charge and knocked Xander right in the chest just before he was able to roll away from the fight. He touched his neck where the force of the impact had been greatest and came away with blood from his collarbone. Xander took off at a run – "Wood! A little help?"

Robin Wood held a pouch with a lit fuse in his left hand and a huge gun in his right. With the gun he drew the monsters attention. Willow arrived just in time to grab the bomb from Wood and cast a small spell. "Inferio-Etany-Amongela!" She blew on the bomb and it disappeared into the air…

"Everybody down," Giles commanded, who reached Xander in time to grab him to the floor. The demon clutched at what they could only assume was it's stomach. It wandered it's way over to another demon fighting with Dawn and Andrew, who quickly ran in the opposite direction. The monsters tangled themselves together for a moment, they seemed to not have speech so much as sign language but it was too late.

Blood and entrails soared over head from both demons – "Good work, Will." Giles smiled at her. "And I've managed to keep my shirt clean, must be a good day!"

"It's about to get worse." Dawn came running to his side. "Look up that way,"

A black winged demon with talons and bright green scales, a dragon if Giles didn't know any better, was swooping and whooshing through the sky. It seemed to be grunting and laughing at the same time as it played with a person in it's grasp.

Giles's voice was suddenly very quiet. "All accounted for except Buffy…" he swallowed.

"My guess? She's playing roller coaster with the nice bat!" Xander said. "How can she stand it up there, why doesn't she kill it!"

"Xander," Willow said, pleading.

"Why hasn't she slain it yet?"

"Xander – shut – up!"

Xander suddenly stumbled as he realized the monster was carrying Buffy as if she was a ragdoll. Limp, bloodied, blonde hair a tangle, the giant rat monster dropped Buffy onto the rocks near them and flew into a nearby storm.

Just as everyone nearly lost sight of it, Spike raced after it in his GT, full engines blaring. He had with him a heat-seeking missile and he aimed it at the fleeing creature. He was screaming as soon as Buffy smacked the battlefield with her legs in a heap.

The explosion hit home and the thing crumbled into a billion pieces. The rest of the demons fell limp without their leader to keep them alive. They were only as vital as the thing that controlled them and without their master they too wasted away until the battlefield was completely empty of the otherworldly demons… Sort of.

Buffy wasn't still for long… soon her friends could hear the raspy breathing of her lungs. Willow looked up slowly at Giles, "How could she have survived that …"

Giles swallowed. "She's turned. She's a vampire now."

Dawn kept repeating "No," under her breath. But soon Andrew cam up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She seemed to quiet some but the tears were still falling from her face.

** TO BE CONTINUED - NEXT TIME, 3:18PM Local Time – Beijing China


End file.
